AGEC Law: Everything you need to know about the Anti-Waste Law

Last updated: 06 / 06 / 2025

The AGEC law, anti-waste law for a circular economy, is a law adopted in 2020 aimed at combating plastic waste and pollution. Its objective is to accelerate the change in the production and consumption model, to transition towards a more sustainable and responsible circular economy.

How does the AGEC law impact your company's activity? How to quickly and effectively rethink your production and consumption methods? ETERNITY Systems explains everything about the anti-waste law, the regulations in place and the new measures planned for 2025.

Summary

Summary of the AGEC law

The AGEC law is a law aimed at reducing waste production and promoting a circular economy model based on the “3R” strategy: reduction, reuse and recycling. It is based on five key axes:

The end of single-use plastic,
Transparency of information for the consumer,
The fight against waste,
Encouraging product sustainability,
The transformation of production methods.

In 2025,, the anti-waste law for a circular economy introduces new measures such as: the extension of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to industrial packaging, the ban on non-recyclable plastics in collective catering, and the establishment of the sustainability index for electrical and electronic products.

Eternity Systems, at the heart of the circular economy, supports your company in this transition with concrete solutions of industrial washing, transport, repair and storage of your primary, secondary and tertiary packaging. Let's reduce waste production together and preserve our resources and our environment.

What is the AGEC law?

The AGEC law (Anti-Waste law for a Circular Economy) is a provision adopted in 2020 as part of the 2004 Environmental Charter. It aims to move from a linear economy (produce – consume – throw away) to a circular economy to limit waste and preserve natural resources, biodiversity and the climate.

Indeed, with over 300 million tons of waste produced each year in France according to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, the management of household and food waste has become a major and urgent environmental issue. To combat waste production and waste, the AGEC law introduces a precise and progressive legal framework that imposes obligations on companies and individuals alike.

The AGEC law provides for different stages of achieving its objectives, ranging from 2021 to 2025, from 2025 to 2030, from 2030 to 2035 and from 2035 to 2040. Implementing a national “3R” strategy, this anti-waste law is made up of 130 articles which set the different objectives to be achieved by 2040. For example:

Article concerned the consumer's obligation to inform on the environmental qualities and characteristics of the products;
Article makes mandatory the sorting bio-waste at source for everyone, individuals and businesses, to reduce organic waste sent to landfill.

To achieve its goals, AGEC is developing around 5 main axes.

The 5 development axes of the AGEC law

The AGEC law is based on 5 development axes which aim to transform resource management and encourage more sustainable practices:

Get out of single-use plastic,
Being transparent with the consumer,
Fight against waste,
Act against planned obsolescence and encourage product sustainability,
Rethinking production methods.

Get out of single-use plastic

Faced with plastic pollution which has a huge impact on marine and terrestrial ecosystems (at least 85% of total marine waste according to the United Nations Environment Programme), AGEC aims to limit the production of non-recyclable waste.

To concretely reduce the production of plastic waste in France, the “3R” strategy is applied: lower the amount of plastic used in products and packaging, encourage reuse of a product to extend its lifespan, and to recycle plastic waste into new resources.

For example, the anti-waste law for a circular economy:

Single-use plastic packaging is thus gradually being banned to zero disposable plastic by 2040,
Eliminate plastic packaging for some fresh fruits and vegetables,
Bans free distribution of plastic bottles in companies,
Promotes bulk,
Encourages alternative solutions such as reusable, biodegradable or compostable packaging.

Better informing consumers

Transparency towards consumers is the basis of the AGEC law. The objective is to enable consumers to have access to clear and verifiable information on the environmental impact of the products they consume.

This transparency involves concrete measures such as:

The obligation to display the environmental qualities of products (rate of recycled material, recyclability, presence of hazardous substances such as endocrine disruptors, information on the legal guarantee of conformity),
The generalization of the Triman logo which indicates that a product or its packaging is recyclable and that it must be sorted or deposited at a specific collection point, to be correctly recovered.

Fight against waste and for responsible reuse

One of the major objectives of the AGEC law is to drastically reduce overconsumption by combating the waste of resources and promoting reuse. In this logic of promoting reuse, the circular economy law notably sets up:

Ban on destroying unsold non-food items (textiles, electronics, books, etc.). Recycling or donations to associations fighting against precariousness or other ESS structures are encouraged,
Strengthening sanctions towards companies destroying or damaging unsold food,
The fight against food waste in the distribution and collective catering sector, with a reduction by 50% by 2025 (compared to 2015). For the food production or processing sector and the commercial catering sector, this deadline is extended to 2030,
The end of automatic receipt printing, with traders having to offer a paper or electronic ticket.

Act against planned obsolescence

The AGEC law regulates and sanctions planned obsolescence, a practice of overconsumption consisting of intentionally reducing the lifespan of a product to encourage its premature replacement. In this context, the law encourages the durability of products by facilitating their repair and by making manufacturers responsible:

Since 2021, the anti-waste law has introduced the display ofa mandatory repairability index for certain electronic and electrical products, both in-store and online. Ranging from 0 to 10, it indicates to the consumer how easy it is to repair their product,
It imposes on traders information on the availability or not of spare parts when purchasing a furniture product or an electronic product. The manufacturer or seller will then have 15 days to make available the necessary spare parts, from the circular economy,
ELLE prohibits the restriction of repair or reconditioning. This includes the presence of an update that aims to slow down or degrade the use of the device,
The law establishes the creation of a repair fund with a repair bonus to encourage consumers to extend the life of their products by having them repaired. This repair bonus will be directly deducted from the consumer's bill when they visit a certified repairer.

Rethinking production methods

This last axis of the AGEC attacks the source of the problem: the production of products and packaging by companiesTo move from a linear economy to a circular economy that promotes reuse and recycling, the law requires companies to rethink their production methods to reduce their environmental impact from the design stage.

This axis mainly involves the implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which expands the application of the “polluter pays” principle, which provides that “the costs resulting from measures to prevent, reduce and combat pollution shall be borne by the polluter”.

In addition to the existing “polluter pays” channels, there are:

Tobacco products,
Toys,
Sporting goods,
Building construction products or materials,
Cars, vans, 2 or 3 wheel motor vehicles and motor quadricycles,
Chewing gums.

In addition, the AGEC law provides for the incentive to use recycled materials in manufactured products, the limitation of unnecessary packaging, as well as the obligation of reuse or recyclability of materials.

What is the impact of the anti-waste law on businesses?

The major impact of the AGEC law on business activity comes from the expansion of producer responsibility (REP). This responsibility requires producers and importers to assume the management of the end of life of the products they place on the market, by financing and organizing the collection and recycling of the waste generated.

Existing since 1992 for household packaging, this REP extends to 1er January 2025 to professional and commercial packaging (EIC). This extension aims to strengthen their reuse, recycling and repurposing to reduce their environmental impact, which represents around 7 million tonnes of packaging per year. This concerns:

Primary packaging : directly in contact with the product (bottles, flasks, cartons),
Secondary packaging : grouping together several products (plastic films around packs),
Tertiary packaging : intended for transport (pallets, stretch films, crates).

By 2027, companies will have to thus integrating 10% of reusable packaging into the French market, with a bonus/penalty system applied. Bonuses will reward eco-design, the use of recycled materials and reusability, while penalties will sanction non-recyclability, the presence of sorting disruptors or harmful substances after recycling.

ETERNITY Systems is your key partner to meet the new production and consumption obligations of AGEC. Thanks to our industrial washing solutions for reusable packaging, your company can quickly and efficiently adapt to legal requirements.

And because your needs are unique, our solutions are too, with turnkey offers at each stage of reuse to improve your economic performance, enhance your brand image and stand out in your market.

What are the future measures of the AGEC law in 2025?

From 2025, de new measures of the AGEC law will be implemented to strengthen sustainability, waste reduction and corporate responsibility: extension of the RPE to EIC, introduction of the sustainability index, ban on non-recyclable plastics in collective catering, fight against microplastics, etc.

The extension of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to industrial and commercial packaging (EIC) : as mentioned above, companies will have to integrate circular economy practices into their packaging management;
Simplified collection of end-of-life vehicles: a new measure of the REP sector consists of allowing the free collection of old vehicles directly from owners, in order to avoid abandoning them in nature and to encourage their recycling;
The establishment of a sustainability index : the repairability index is replaced in 2025 by the durability index. This, in addition to indicating the ease of repair of a product, signals its robustness, reliability, ease of maintenance and commercial guarantee;
The gradual ban on plastics in collective catering : collective catering will have to put an end to plastic containers for reheating food in school canteens, daycare centers and medical establishments in municipalities with more than 2.000 inhabitants. The AGEC also bans non-recyclable plastics containing polymers or copolymers that are difficult to recycle, in favor of reusable alternatives;
The fight against microplastics : from 2025, all new washing machines sold will have to be equipped with plastic microfibre filters, in order to limit the release of microplastics into the oceans (currently corresponding to millions of tonnes dumped, according to a 2017 IUCN report);
Ban on exporting electrical and electronic waste (WEEE) outside the EU and OECD : aims to prevent illegal export (35 million tonnes in 2023) and poor management of this waste in developing countries, unless there is agreement from importing countries which will have to demonstrate the capacity to manage it "sustainably".

These new measures of the anti-waste law aim in particular to enable a 20% reduction in single-use plastic packaging (of which at least half must be through reuse).

You know everything about the AGEC law and the changes it introduces for a more sustainable future. Achieving rapid adoption of the measures in this anti-waste law ensures that you remain compliant and avoid financial penalties. Trust ETERNITY Systems to support you in this sustainable and responsible transition towards the circular economy.

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About the Author

Anthony ADAM

Communications and Marketing Manager at ETERNITY Systems, Anthony designs strategies and content to promote more sustainable consumption. He is a committed agent of change who combines creativity, rigor, and action to strengthen the visibility and impact of projects related to reuse and the circular economy.